Trim Tutorial

[Staiduk]

Hello - just to let everyone know and not step on anyone's toes (just in case someone else is as well): I'm making up a trim tutorial right now - it seems it might be valuable for sim-pilots who have a less than perfect understanding of trim. I spent some time looking at the trim info in the Learning Center and what M$ laughably calls a 'flight lesson' and quite frankly; I'm not at all surprised sim pilots are so often confused about proper aircraft handling. I'm trying to do it with video; if that fails I'll write it out as a forum topic. Should be up Sunday. (It better be - The Roar of the Rings starts this weekend and I never miss Curling finals! 

Hope it helps!

[Mobius]

Sounds like a great idea.  Trim seems to be one of those things that people never really realize how important it is.

[olderndirt]

If you or anyone can come up with a fix or better method, I'll worship at your shrine  .

[machineman9]

Trim is something I never quite understood until I did it for real and I could feel what it was supposed to do and how it affects the aircraft. Now, when flying on FS, I can have a good idea of how much trim needs to be applied and it makes flying so much easier. London to Cosford in my DC-3 at 7000ft with only minor changes to trim along the way... Imagine the wrist ache if you had to do that flight or longer ones whilst holding the plane at that height yourself! 



I wish you the best on your project, it really is an important skill to learn. It is fairly basic, but helps so much.

[Staiduk]

OK; the trim tutorial is up at SimTeevee - and it only took three bloody hours for it to upload.

[olderndirt]

Excellent.

[Staiduk]

Glad you like it, Dirt.

I agree - 'vertical speed' is correct and I wish I could change it - for some reason I always get the "bluh-bluh-bluh's" trying to dictate into that stupid little camera and after about a hundred attempts; I wound up saying "ahhhh - good enough!" It wasn't - of course - until I'd compiled the video and deleted all the material (20 bloody gigs of it! Holy snakes!) that I started going "Ummm.... I don't like that..." There were a couple of spots in there like that.

As for why I didn't use the attitude indicator; it's just how I was trained - establish SLF via outside cues; using the VSI as reference. To be honest, using the attitude indicator wouldn't be my first choice; possibly since the aircraft I first got my license on didn't have one at all; or even an artificial horizon.

As for number of clicks on the trim; it flat-out wouldn't work. I adjust all my aircraft so 'Elevator_Trim_Effectiveness' in the .cfg reads 0.25 which gives a much smoother response than stock. Also; the value would change with different conditions - temp., loading, etc. and some - like me when I'm flying the Citabria - have the trim mapped to a lever axis anyway. So overall, I thought it better to trim according to the aircraft's behaviour rather than trying to determine fixed numbers.

Cheers! And thanks again!

[olderndirt]

. To be honest, using the attitude indicator wouldn't be my first choice; possibly since the aircraft I first got my license on didn't have one at all

Sounds reasonable to me - never had one either.

[Brett_Henderson]

Wow..

[RickG]

I have to agree with the others---great tutorial, Staiduk! As you mentioned, a bit long, but I don't think you could have shortened it by much. I took a lot of notes, so now I can refine my technique and  trim properly now.  Many thanks for your effort.  Rick

[aeroart]

How do you get into Sim TV? I Googled it, and got an opening page, but no place to enter a search. Can someone provide a URL? Thanks.

Art

[aeroart]

Never mind. I found it.

Art

[olderndirt]

I adjust all my aircraft so 'Elevator_Trim_Effectiveness' in the .cfg reads 0.25 which gives a much smoother response than stock.

Pure excitement!

[Staiduk]

ROFL - alcoholic beverage, by any chance?

Thanks for the kind responses folks; I appreciate it.

Dirt:

Sounds reasonable to me - never had one either.  Strictly needle, ball, airspeed and a low freq receiver.

You learned on a Cub, right? I envy you - flying's too complicated nowadays. It used to be needle, ball and the rushing wind as your speed gauge; at some point it turned into regulations, air law, log books and certifications. I came in kind of at the end of that old era and miss it dearly.

Rick:

I took a lot of notes, so now I can refine my technique and  trim properly now.

Glad I could help. A little bit of knowledge and a lot of practice is all it takes.


I just REALLY wish I could redo that climb-speeds bit - it's astonishing how bad you can describe something at three in the morning.

[olderndirt]

I just REALLY wish I could redo that climb-speeds bit - it's astonishing how bad you can describe something at three in the morning.

It's great - hindsight is often more of a hindrance.